The Hiding Place

When I was watching this movie, the story of Corrie Ten Boom and her being sent to a Nazi concentration camp for hiding Jews, I was very aware of the arthritis in my legs. This past winter has been the worse yet for my arthritis; many people in Nazi death camps must have died just because of their aches and pains of being a little older. Betsy died because she was of delicate constitution. I watched the film on Sunday; my arthritis has gotten progressively better each day since then. I thank God for being able to walk up and down the stairs pain-free. That reminds me of the day I went to the "Art of Activism" talk at the Redford Center. My shoes had fallen apart and I had to wear boots for about a week that hurt my feet. I could hardly walk the day of "The Art of Activism," but my new shoes I ordered arrived that day. One of the people being honored that night had sent shoes to barefoot Peruvian Indians. My feet became progressively pain-free each day after the talk.

Brother Sun, Sister Moon

I had never seen this movie though I'd wanted to see it for many years. I would give it four stars. From what I read on EWTN "Saints" page, the movie did not change too much in effect to "Hollywoodize" the movie. They kept making it seem like Clare and he would have an affair, but they never did. Francis really had about four other siblings that were never in the movie. I assume not much is known about them. The movie had him being seen by Pope Innocent III and shoved away, then the Pope says "Bring him back." That is in effect what happened: Francis saw someone lesser than the Pope and the Pope had a dream and said "Bring him to me." I loved the beautiful costumes of the rich people. Of course, Francis and his followers gave that up when they found their calling. The clothes are beautiful, but they shouldn't be gained on the backs of the poor. Henry Ford paid his workers enough so they could buy Ford cars of their own. I believe my dressmaking business in Haiti should pay the workers enough to buy dresses of their own.

Duel in the Sun

Today I watched Duel in the Sun, 1946 with Gregory Peck, Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Lillian Gish, Lionel Barrymore. It was my Netflix video pick. I would give this movie four stars. I had seen it once before and remembered that I had been impressed with it. I think Native Americans today would say it's racist. Jennifer Jones was a lusty half-breed, and the white women were virtuous women. Vashti, Butterfly McQueen, the black servant wanted to be married but didn't realize how complicated the white people were. The white women were virtuous, but Jennifer Jones could have married the nice Joseph Cotten if she had not been attracted against her will and better judgment to the handsome but devilish Gregory Peck. I was feeling down because black films seem to deal with the seamy side of life: incest, child molestation, drugs, rape. This is a movie about white people behaving badly, but they did make the dark Native American girl not be able to help herself being bad. This movie made me want to work on my screenplays and submit them to Sundance May 1. Let's see if I have the energy to work on that this April. Supposedly, I'm supposed to be enrolling in PhD school May 1 to study to save Haiti.